Justin Merriman | Tribune-Review - A woman and her dog join the pro-Russia gathering on Sunday, March 23, 2014, in Lenin Square in Donetsk, Ukraine.

Justin Merriman | Tribune-Review - Pro-Russia supporters gather on Sunday, March 23, 2014, in Lenin Square in Donetsk, Ukraine on Sunday for a second day of demonstrations calling for the return of ousted President Viktor Yanukovych.

Justin Merriman | Tribune-Review - Pro-Russia supporters listen to speakers on Sunday, March 23, 2014, a second day of demonstrations in Donetsk's Lenin Square.

Justin Merriman | Tribune-Review - Police in riot gear wait as several thousand pro-Russia demonstrators march toward them as they guard Donetsk's regional administration building in Ukraine during protests on Sunday, March 23, 2014.

Justin Merriman | Tribune-Review - A pro-Russia supporter holds the Donetsk regional flag as he joins protests in front of riot police on Sunday, March 23, 2014, at Donetsk's regional administration building in Ukraine.

Justin Merriman | Tribune-Review - A woman yells at police as several thousand pro-Russia supporters march on Donetsk's regional administration building in Ukraine during protests on Sunday, March 23, 2014.

Justin Merriman | Tribune-Review - Police in riot gear wait as several thousand pro-Russia demonstrators march towards them on Sunday, March 23, 2014, in Ukraine.

Justin Merriman | Tribune-Review - A demonstrator chants as he walks past police at the entrance to Donetsk's regional administration building on Sunday, March 23, 2014, in Ukraine.

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DONETSK, Ukraine — Pro-Russia protesters rallied for a second day in Lenin Square here on Sunday, demanding a referendum on joining the Russian Federation and blasting Western influence on the region.

A week earlier, Ukraine's southern Crimea region voted to secede and to join Russia, igniting minor clashes between the two countries and Western sanctions against Moscow.

Thousands in the square waved Russian and regional flags. They demanded that ousted pro-Russia President Viktor Yanukovych be returned to office, denounced the country's interim leaders as Nazis, and accused the West and the European Union of causing unrest.

“U.S. and EU out of the Ukraine,” read one sign. “They sponsor terrorism.”

“Why did the U.S. and the EU pay for the Maidan?” asked protester Vasili Michailak, referring to the uprising in Kiev's central square that prompted Yanukovych to flee to Russia.

“We don't want war, and we don't want fascists here,” said Michailak, 57. “The occupation taking place in Ukraine was paid for by the U.S. The people of eastern Ukraine don't want to be part of NATO.”

Although protesters hope to rejoin Russia — and to end Ukrainian independence that followed the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union — others fear a Russian invasion.

“I just feel like if we stayed under one big yellow-and-blue flag” — Ukraine's national banner — “we will continue to be second-class citizens … deprived of speaking Russian,” the 35-year-old advertising worker said.

“My love for Ukraine is supposed to be equated with my hatred of Russia. It shouldn't be like that.”

Svetlana Lemeanska, 44, wore an English-language sign on her back: “Stop Ukrainian Nazism.” A lecturer at Donetsk Technical University, she wants “to join Russia, but I don't see how. I don't want a war. Maybe if we could have a referendum, we would be closer.”

Protesters marched on the regional government building, chanting for Russian President Vladimir Putin to “save us and Yanukovych, protect us.”

They quickly moved to City Hall, where young men pulled down Ukraine's flag and hoisted Russian and Donetsk regional flags to cheers, whistles and chants of “Russia!”

An hour after they left, Russia's flag came down and Ukraine's fluttered overhead again.

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